


Fling Out Broad Its Name

by GnomeIgnominious



Series: Scenes from a reconciliation [9]
Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Coming Out, Coming of Age, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Heart-to-Heart, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Questioning, Self-Acceptance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 10:15:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29883051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GnomeIgnominious/pseuds/GnomeIgnominious
Summary: Millie moves in with Douglas and they have a chat in the pub.
Series: Scenes from a reconciliation [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2197014
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	Fling Out Broad Its Name

They’re in the pub, the Farmer’s, just down the road from Dad’s. He’d suggested it, since they’d spent the morning driving down from Barrow and most of the afternoon unpacking Millie’s things and getting her settled in. Dad hadn’t wanted to cook and so they’d walked down the road in the warm summer evening and sat on a trestle table outside in the pub garden where the grass ran down to the river. Pie and chips, just the job.

Millie finishes her food and sits back contentedly, watching the ducks at the end of the lawn fighting over a scrap of bread.

“You fancy some pudding? Ice cream or something?” Dad asks, finishing his last couple of chips.

“No thanks, I’m full,” Millie says, but she doesn’t want to go home just yet. “Maybe we could have another drink?”

“Ok,” Dad says. “Same again?”

She nods, and he goes inside to get them. It feels a bit silly since she’s only drinking Coke and he’s drinking water – they could have the same at home for half the price – but Millie likes this pub and likes that Dad wanted to bring her here.

“You could have something stronger, you know,” Dad says, coming back with the drinks.

“I am only sixteen.” Millie pulls a face. “And Mum’s quite anti-me drinking.”

Dad smiles. “When I was your age I was in the pub all the time.”

“And what did your mum say?”

“ ‘Why are you in the pub all the time?’ ” Dad says with a rueful grin. “I learned my lesson eventually.”

They sit in silence for a while, enjoying the peace of the pub garden and the lingering warmth from the setting sun. Eventually, Dad speaks again.

“You and your mum been getting on all right recently?” His tone is light but he’s looking at her with something like concern.

“Yeah, why?”

“Oh, well, sometimes it sounds like she’s a bit dictatorial, that’s all.”

Millie smiles. “No, it’s just that she’s used to Jake and Ethan constantly messing around and I think she forgets that I’m not ten years old as well.”

“Understandable,” Dad says.

Millie bites her lip. “It does make it a bit hard to talk to her, sometimes,” she says, and Dad nods. “About important things.”

“Well, you can talk to me, if you want.”

They lapse into silence for a moment again.

“When did you know?” Millie blurts out, eyes fixed on the river. “That you’re bi, I mean?”

Dad hums in thought. “I was in my twenties when I learnt the word for it. But I realised I was attracted to men and women when I was, ooh, seventeen I think.”

“What happened?”

“I met a very beautiful woman.” Dad smiles. “You know I went to an all-boys school, so I didn’t meet many girls… and I sort of thought the way I felt towards some of my male friends was normal, y'know, like everyone fancied their friends a bit. Then when I got to sixth form we had some lessons jointly with the girls’ school down the road…”

“And the rest was history?” Millie asks wryly.

Dad gives one of his wheezy chuckles. “Yes, I suppose so.”

“You make it sound so easy,” Millie says wistfully. “You and Verity. And most of my friends know what they want to do at uni already, or how many kids they want. And Mum keeps asking me what I’m going to do, and about boyfriends and stuff…”

“It’s not a race,” Dad says, interrupting. “Look at me: I thought I was going to be doctor. Then I thought I was going to work at a big airline for my whole career.” He grins. “You and Verity weren’t exactly planned either, but I wouldn’t change that for the world.”

“Yeah,” Millie says, though she tries to keep the despondency out of her tone. She knows he’s right.

Dad looks at her and his voice softens. “And it’s ok to question your sexuality, sweetheart. Nothing is set in stone, hmm?”

“Yeah,” Millie says again. “I just want to be sure, before I tell Mum, you know?”

“I know.”

“What did your mum say?" she asks again, only this time the question feels far more weighty. "When you told her?” 

Dad bites his lip and for a second he looks so much like Verity that Millie nearly does a double take. She wonders if that’s how _she_ looks when she wants to avoid a question.

“I didn’t tell her,” Dad says, his voice tight.

“Did you want to?”

“Not really.” Dad’s looking away now, down to the river that’s glinting in the last rays of sunset.

“Oh,” Millie says.

Dad looks back at her, his dark eyes almost black in the fading light.

“It was a different time, Millie,” he says roughly. “But there really is no rush for you, all right? For anything – uni, jobs, relationships – anything.”

“I know.” Millie finishes the last sip of her Coke. “Thanks Dad.”

She stands up and rounds the table to hug him across the shoulders. He clasps her hands and smiles.

“Home?” he asks.

“Home.”


End file.
